Let the Jeff Kottkamp mess be a lesson to you. Maybe if you pay attention to this one, you can learn a thing or too and avoid even more serious problems. Here’s what happened:
1. FPC created a page dedicated to Kottkamp.
2. On that page, we linked to an article about an ethical concern about Kottkamp’s past.
3. Maybe ten people saw the page — only those who specifically googled Kottkamp probably found the page.
4. Kottkamp deleted the links — “accidentally.”
5. FPC discovered it and traced it to the LG chief of staff’s office computer (thanks to Dave Harper and Jackie Dowd).
6. I sent an e-mail to the Miami Herald.
7. Gary Fineout picked up on it and found out the full story.
8. Apparently, Kottkamp lied to Fineout.
9. In a two-day span, more than 30 sources, including UPI, picked up on the story, driving hundreds of readers to the site and the story that Kottkamp deleted.
So, Kottkamp’s original goal was to limit the number of people who knew about his questionable ethics. The actions he took to achieve that goal led him to engage in more questionable ethics and to many more readers finding out about the number of people who knew about his questionable ethics. Good job, Jeff.
Kinda like getting elected by promising to lower taxes but then spending more than any President or Congress in history so that future generations will have an enormous tax burden?
Or like invading Iraq because maybe they were involved with Al Quida, but then it turns out they weren’t, and, because of the invasion, Al Quida is now all over Iraq?
Or like advancing policies that you say fight terrorism but really create many more terrorists and make it easier for terrorist organizations to recruit new members?
Or like resisting laws to limit the amount of CO2 released because it could “hurt the economy,” but decades down the road have intense economic disruption because of stronger hurricanes and rising ocean levels?
Republicans sure think ahead.
You talk like Republicans aren’t honest or competent or something like that…